Liberia was founded in 1847 by former U.S. slaves shipped back to Africa by the American Colonization Society.

Unfortunately, these repatriated blacks considered themselves superior to the indigenous peoples they encountered, and so they formed a society in which the descendants of African-Americans enjoyed elite class status.

The tensions which ensued between the two groups essentially remained unaddressed until everything came to a head in 1989. That was when the first of two civil wars erupted which combined would claim over 200,000 lives and last until 2003.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell recounts the story of how a ceasefire was finally achieved, namely, through the determined efforts of a coalition of Christian and Muslim women fed up with having to beg for food and to raise their children amidst incessant slaughter, raping and looting. Led by Leymah Gbowee, a mom with a toddler, and armed only with T-shirts, signs and a willingness to die for their cause, this intrepid sisterhood stood toe-to-toe with both President Charles Taylor and with the Sierra Leone-based rebels attempting to topple his oppressive regime.

What makes this documentary so compelling are the reams of archival footage which allow us to witness, firsthand, the fighting, the peace demonstrations and the negotiations which led to the ouster of the corrupt Americo-Liberian Taylor. Ultimately, he was replaced by native Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, sub-Saharan Africa's first elected female head of state.

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While most people are well aware of the years of civil unrest which led to the demise of Apartheid in 1994, not as many know about the secret talks that simultaneously transpired for almost a decade between the South African government and the African National Congress (ANC), the political party spearheading the independence movement.

Since the racist regime officially opposed the notion of negotiating with terrorists, President P.W. Botha (Timothy West) couldn't let the white minority know that he had, in fact, dispatched an emissary to England to meet with a representative of the outlawed ANC.

A series of clandestine meetings were set up by Michael Young (Jonny Lee Miller) an executive with Consolidated Goldfields, a British mining company with financial interests in the region and thus a big stake in a smooth transition to majority rule.

So, Young enlisted Professor Will Esterhuyse (William Hurt) to serve as an intermediary between the two warring factions. Esterhuyse reluctantly accepted the assignment and would play a pivotal role in getting ANC leader Thabo Mbeki (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to speak on behalf of imprisoned Nelson Mandela (Clarke Peters) while Dr. Niel Barnard (Mark Strong) did the same for the Boer-Afrikaners.

The ensuing intellectual confrontation is the focus of Endgame, a powerful docudrama directed by Pete Travis (Omagh). Given that the movie revolves mostly around discussions, don't expect much n the way of action and you won't be disappointed. The picture is nonetheless fairly intriguing, especially when presenting the contrast of what politicians were saying in public at a time when they were simultaneously so desperate to cut a deal.

For instance, F.W. de Klerk (Matthew Marsh) is shown arrogantly dismissing Mandela's words as "existential ramblings about universal suffrage," despite being frightened by the escalation of attacks on whites, such as the bombing of a shopping center in Johannesburg which claimed the lives of a number of civilians.

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